In the early days of
settlement in Canada, in the absence of roads or trails, the lakes and rivers provided a
natural and convenient mode of travel. This form of travel was, however, seriously limited
by two obstacles, the rapids of the St. Lawrence and the much greater barrier of Niagara
Falls. Prior to the construction of the First Welland Canal, the only route from Lake
Ontario to Lake Erie, which differ in elevation by 326 feet, was by means of a laborious
and hazardous portage from Queenston to the Chippawa Creek.

The First Welland
Canal

Although the idea of a canal to
bypass the Falls had been broached on several earlier occasions, the first active steps
towards the construction of a canal were made under the inspired leadership of the Hon.
Wm. Hamilton Merritt, who was convinced that by using the Twelve Mile Creek basin, a canal
could be dug to join Lake Ontario to Chippawa Creek, now called Welland River. Vessels
could then pass easily down the Chippawa into the Niagara River at a point about two and
one-half miles above the Falls and thence to Lake Erie.

In 1824 an act was passed in the legislature incorporating the Welland Canal Company, and
on November 30, 1824, the first sod was turned at Allanburg by the president, Mr. George
Keefer. One hundred years later on November 30, 1924, a modest cairn was unveiled at this
spot.

The original plan was for a combined canal and rail route, the canal following Twelve Mile
Creek Valley to the foot of the escarpment and the boats being hauled up the incline on
wooden rails. Another proposal was to cross the summit by means of a tunnel 15 feet wide,
14 feet high and with a 6 foot draft of water. However, the Company decided to make the
ascent of the escarpment by means of locks and to dig an open channel, called the Deep
Cut, between the top of the escarpment and the Welland River.

In 1828, the work in the Deep Cut having suffered severe set-backs, due to landslides, the
company decided to raise the summit level of the Canal about 8 feet, and to obtain a water
supply at a higher elevation. For this reason a Feeder Canal was constructed to supply
water from the Grand River at Dunnville. From there the Feeder flowed north-west through
the swamps of Wainfleet and Moulton Townships, crossed the Welland River by a wooden
aqueduct at Welland and joined the summit level of the main canal at Port Robinson. At
Port Robinson, the summit level of the canal was connected to the Welland River by two
locks locking down to the river.

In the Fall of 1829, water was let into the Feeder and the first canal to join Lake Erie
to Lake Ontario was an accomplished fact. On November 27, 1829, the Canadian Schooner
"Annie and Jane" of York, and the "R. H. Boughton" of Youngstown, N.
Y., entered the canal and arrived at Chippawa on November 30th, exactly 5 years after the
turning of the first sod.

Improvements to the Canal and
Feeder were gradually carried out and vessel traffic slowly increased. At that tire two
routes were available from Port Robinson, one by way of the Feeder to Dunnville and Port
Maitland, and the other by way of the Welland River to the Niagara River. As the Feeder
route had only 4-foot draft and as sailing vessels using the Welland River route had to be
towed up the Niagara against strong currents by 8 to 14 yoke of oxen, it soon became
evident an extension of the Canal south from Port Robinson to Lake Erie was essential.
After various surveys and many discussions "Gravelly Bay", now Port Colborne,
was selected as the Lake Erie Terminus. The extension was completed and put in operation
in June, 1833.

This, the First Canal, was
27-1/2 miles in length. It proceeded from Lake Ontario at Port Dalhousie, the outlet of
the Twelve Mile Creek, up the creek to Shipman's Corners (now St. Catharines), along the
east branch of the creek to Slabtown (now Merritton), ascended the escarpment to Thorold,
thence crossed the height of land between Beaver Dams Creek and the Welland River and
continued South to Lake Erie at Port Colborne. It had 40 locks, 110 feet in length, 22
feet in width and 8 feet in depth.

The Company from time to time obtained loans from the Imperial Government and from the
Governments of Upper and Lower Canada and the Government of Upper Canada bought a
considerable amount of the Company's stock. After the Union of Upper and Lower Canada in
1841, the Province of Canada acquired all the stock belonging to private individuals.
As the wooden locks had not proved satisfactory, work was immediately started on
rebuilding with stone. Moreover, as schooners were already outgrowing the canal, it was
decided to proceed at once with the construction of the Second Welland Canal.

The Second Welland Canal

The route selected for the Second Canal was practically the same throughout its length as
the First Canal. The number of locks was reduced from 40 to 27 by increasing the lift of
each lock. The new locks were increased in size to 150 feet in length, 26-1/2 feet in
width, and with a 9 foot draft over the sills. The former First Canal channel and locks
became, in general, the weir channels of the Second. Remains of the old wooden locks are
still visible when the existing portion of the Second Canal between Thorold and Lake
Ontario is unwatered.

As a first step in construction, the Feeder Canal was enlarged and a connection made to
Port Maitland where a lock 200 feet by 45 feet with 9 foot draft was constructed. The
Feeder was deepened and this route was the only one available from 1845 to 1850 while the
main canal was being reconstructed from Feeder Junction to Port Colborne. This completed
the Second Welland Canal. Locks and other structures on it now over 100 years old still
stand in excellent condition today.

In 1853 the canal was improved by raising the banks and lock walls to give an increase in
draft to 10 feet. By this time it was evident that the supply of water from the Grand
River was not sufficient, and that the summit level should be lowered about 8 feet so as
to feed directly from Lake Erie. However, this lowering of the summit level was not
completed until 1881.
Up to the date of Confederation, July 1st, 1867, the total expenditure on the Welland
Canals was $7,638,239.00. By this time steam was replacing sail, and again the canal was
beginning to be a bottleneck between the lakes. In 1870 a Commission was appointed to
recommend improvements.

The Third Welland Canal

The Commission, in 1871, recommended a uniform system of locks for the St. Lawrence and
Welland Canals with locks 270 feet long and 45 feet wide and with 12 feet draft, which was
later increased to 14 feet.

The Third Welland Canal followed practically the same route as the Second Canal from Port
Colborne to Allanburg but here the route left the Twelve Mile Creek to follow a new line
to the east of the Second Canal and in a much more direct line to Port Dalhousie.

This Third Canal, 26-3/4 miles
in length, was opened to traffic in 1881, but it was not until 1887 that 14 foot draft
prevailed throughout. Once again ships were increasing in size and number, and by 1905 it
was evident that a greatly enlarged canal was essential. Between 1907 and 1912 exhaustive
surveys were made, and in 1912 a first appropriation was made for the construction of the
fourth canal, the Welland Ship Canal.

The Fourth Welland
Ship Canal

The actual construction of the
Ship Canal was begun in 1913 and carried on despite the outbreak of the First World War.
In the spring of 1916, however, in the face of material and manpower shortages,
construction was suspended and remained so until 1919. Work was resumed in 1919 and
carried on under the supervision of Mr. A. J. Grant, to completion in 1932.

The original course was
generally followed from Port Colborne to Thorold, but from Thorold north the Ship Canal
followed the Ten Mile Creek Valley and joined Lake Ontario at Port Weller, approximately 3
miles east of Port Dalhousie.

Since no natural harbour existed
at Port Weller, an artificial one was created with embankments extending a mile and a half
into Lake Ontario.

The Ship Canal is now 26.8 miles
long and has a width in the canal reaches of 310 feet at water level and 200 feet at the
bottom of the prism, with the exception of the new Welland Channel which has a width of
350 feet and a depth of 30 feet. Seven lift locks and one guard lock have replaced the 40
locks of the First Canal; each lift lock being 859 feet in length between centers of gate
paintles, 80 feet in width and having 30 feet of water over the sills. Each of the seven
lift locks has a lift of about 46-1/2 feet.

Many safety devices are employed
throughout the canal. Electrical interlocks control all machinery operating the gates,
valves, fenders and signals to protect the equipment and prevent disasters. At the locks,
the gates are protected by wire rope fenders, each one of which consists of 3-1/4"
diameter wire rope carried across the locks by means of a light structural boom. This boom
with the suspended cable is raised to a nearly vertical position when it is desired to
pass a ship. If a ship strikes the fender, the boom is carried away and the rope, paying
out over brake drums, brings the vessel to a halt before it strikes the lock gate.

Eleven bridges, including six of the vertical lift type, five of the bascule or rolling
lift type span the canal. Each bridge is equipped with a standby gasoline engine for
emergency operation in the event of electric power failure.

All electrical power used on the canal is generated by the canal power house located at
the foot of the flight locks and having 3 turbo-generators with an installed capacity of
15,000 kilowatts.

Since each lockage requires approximately 21,000,000 gallons of water, or enough to cover
77-1/2 acres by one foot in depth, large poundage areas are provided above the locks in
order to decrease the drop in the canal level at each filling. By contrast the average
amount of water required for one lockage in the First Canal was about eight-tenths of an
acre-foot.

Water is led into and discharged
from the locks through culverts with openings along each side of the locks at the lock
floor level. The time required to fill a lock is 10 minutes, and the total time required
for a vessel to navigate the canal is about 8 hours average.

The original estimate for the
construction of this canal was approximately 30 million dollars which was, of course,
based on pre-World War 1 costs. The disruption due to the war and the greatly increased
prices after the war were the principal factors in increasing the actual cost to be about
$135,000,000,00.

The St. Lawrence
Seaway Authority Welland Ship Canal

The Welland Ship Canal is that
part of the St. Lawrence Seaway which joins Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and by-passes
Niagara Falls. The Welland Canal and the Sault Ste. Mlarie Canal constitute the Western
Region of the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, with the Head Office at St. Catharines,
Ontario, and Field Offices at Fort Weller and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

The Welland Ship Canal, which
was opened in 1932. It is the fourth Welland Canal built since 1824. Its construction was
started in 1913, but suspended from 1916 to 1919. In 1965 construction of a new Welland
Bypass Channel was commenced and completed by March 27, 1972. The other canals had their
northern terminus at Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario, three miles west of the present
terminus at Port Weller. From Port Weller, the Canal runs southerly 26.8 miles to Port
Colborne on Lake Erie through a well populated industrial area and is crossed by three
railway bridges, and eight highway bridges. The new Welland Canal Channel from Port
Robinson to Ramey's Bend in Port Colborne reduced the length of the canal by .8 of a mile
and eliminated six bridges with construction of 2 tunnels. It is estimated that 3/4 of an
hour transit time on a round trip will be saved by a vessel using this new channel. There
are submarine cables carrying electric power, telephone and telegraph lines beneath the
Canal, as well as gas and oil pipelines. It also supplies water for the DeCew Falls power
plant of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario and for various municipal water
supplies.

At both approaches, there are beacons and sheltered anchorages. The limiting length of the
locks is 765 feet between fenders used to protect the lock gates. The locks are 80 feet
wide and the Canal is 200 feet wide at the bottom and 310 feet at the waterline. The
permissible draft is 26 feet and the overhead clearance under the lift bridges is 120
feet. Turning basins are provided at four points along the Canal. There are eight locks
with a total lift of 327 feet. The Canal Power House, which provides all the power for
lighting and operating the Canal, can be supplemented from other sources in emergencies.

The canal is usually open from
early in April to the end of December. During 1969, 53,532,336 tons of cargo passed
through the canal. Almost one-sixth of this tonnage was coal and approximately 12,738,576
tons of grain passed through the canal. During 1972, 64,193,633 tons of cargo passed
through the canal. Almost one third of this tonnage was grain, with coal comprising
9,805,394 tons and iron ore 13,6000179 tons. This represented a record year for the
Welland Canal.

The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, which changed the whole pattern of inland
navigation by permitting large vessels to carry huge cargoes freely between the Atlantic
Ocean and the Great Lakes, has increased the traffic on the Welland Canal, which is
showing a marked improvement over previous years. On the first three canals, tolls were
charged until 1903. Tolls were suspended from the Welland Section in 1962 with only a
lockage fee of $100.00 per lock, now applicable to commercial vessels transiting the
Welland Canal. Pleasure craft pay a lockage fee of $3.00 per lock to transit the Welland
Canal.